Nowadays a plurality of clothing items made wholly or partially with stretch fabrics are available on the market, in that these fabrics best adapt to the curves of the wearer, and in some cases have definitely higher resistance to deformation and wear compared to traditional fabrics. These stretch fabrics are made from yarns formed by a base yarn to which stretch yarns are added in various ways. For example, for the production of tights, stretch yarns are used, combined with a base yarn, for example of cotton or nylon, which are later bonded one to the other to form the processed stretch yarn. There are various possible processes, such as interlacing, covering or twisting, and each of them is carried out by specific machines.
Currently the generic textile machine for processing the base yarn consists of a certain number of work stations in parallel, each of which performs a specific operation. More particularly the textile machine has a number of creels provided with the same number of bobbins of base yarn, rotated by a feed roller, and at least one reel of stretch yarn mounted on a special support structure, also rotated by another feed roller. The individual yarns, which come respectively from the bobbin of the base yarn and from the reel of the stretch yarn, are then coupled and wound successively on the reel of combined yarn.
Currently the textile machines available commercially provide for the use of a single feed roller of the reels of stretch yarn, powered by a single motor, for all the stations in parallel that wind the spool of combined yarn. This solution, although advantageous from the economic standpoint in that it involves the presence of a single motor, is often found to be the source of problems. The stretch yarn in fact tends to be wound wrongly on the winder roller, forming the so-called “weaver's waste”, that is to say a massive residue around the roller which is to be removed to avoid possible breakages of the same machine. For removal of the waste, therefore, the whole line of machines is put on hold as the feed roller is the same for all of them. This disadvantage occurs sufficiently frequently to affect the yield of the textile machinery, lowering it considerably. Another problem that occurs in the sector of textile machines relates to the fact that, when the reel of stretch yarn is finished, an operative takes considerable time to replace the same, and production at the same time must be stopped. This problem has been solved with the provision of the automatic change of the spool of combined yarn and with the addition of at least one second reel of stretch yarn, which is hooked to the base yarn as soon as the first reel is finished, at the same time as the automatic spool change. The two reels of stretch yarn are generally mounted on a drum support with automatic rotation, in such a way that a reel is always in contact with the single roller for feeding the stretch yarn. When a reel is used up, the drum performs a rotation with, for example, pneumatic control, bringing the second reel in contact with the feed roller. The limitation of this solution is once again the presence of a single feed roller, whose uniqueness is a critical factor for the reasons stated above, and moreover the fact that the rotating drum involves the presence of an assembly of moving parts, and therefore greater bulk and the presence of further shearing points, very dangerous for the operative. The Applicant, with a view to increasing the availability of textile machines, has developed feeder apparatus for the automatic insertion of stretch yarn for textile machines provided with automatic spool change which overcomes all the aforementioned limitations of the prior art.
The object of the present invention is that of providing feeder apparatus for the automatic insertion of stretch yarn which can be installed on various types of textile machines, provided they are equipped with automatic change of the spool of combined yarn, in that it has reduced dimensions and does not entail complex modifications to the existing machine.
Another object of the present invention is that of providing feeder apparatus for the automatic insertion of stretch yarn for textile machines provided with automatic spool change, wherein each reel of stretch yarn operates independently from the other so as to guarantee the line of machines a continuity of production also in the case of localised faults or breakdowns.
An additional object of the present invention is that of a providing feeder apparatus for the automatic insertion of stretch yarn for textile machines provided with automatic spool change, wherein there are no mechanical or pneumatic members for the movement of the packs of stretch yarn.
A last but no less important object of the present invention is that of providing feeder apparatus for the automatic insertion of stretch yarn that is extremely simplified and safe for the operative, in that it has a reduced number of shearing points.